Hey and hello

New Member

Hey everyone.
My name is Milissa. I'm disabled and have a Service Dog, am training another and have one pet. My personal Service Dog is a wonderfully sweet Doberman named Book, and the dog that I am training for Service Dog work is a Labradoodle named Jet. My pet dog is a very intelligent Pitmix called Daystar.

Isn't it funny how many service dog tasks are 'tricks' and how many tricks are real service dog tasks?
Anyway, I'm looking forward to coming across new stuff for my Service Dogs and for my pet dog as well.
Please feel free to check out my meetup groups, where there are other dogs who need funding for training, housing, feed and vet care. Check them out!

Well-Known Member

Well, hello everybody from Italy!
I have been a member here in Dog Trick Academy for many months but I have realized I have never spoken about me and my dog.
My name is Mario and I'm a Pet Therapy Handler. I share my life with my Newfoundland Chantal. She's my lovely baby. She's 16 months old and really my joy. She can astonish me every day with things I have never taught her. Just know she has done the "high five" exercise in a while just by showing her my hand open. I told her "Chanty... high five!" and she jumped up putting her paw on my raised palm. So astonishing! Anyway, a week ago she and me passed our exam to be certified as pet partners. We got 101/150. A good goal for us. I hope I can post some pics of my baby. In the meanwhile I send a greeting to everybody and welcome Melissa! By the way, I would like to keep in touch with you Melissa. I guess we can share many things about our dogs. I can give you my e-mail address if it's ok for you!
Mario aka Landseer

Administrator

Wow from Italy eh! So far from Canada!! I love this website, we can all talk and we are from different places on the planet!

I see that you were the 379th member to register, we are at over 2000 now!! The high five is such a cool trick, when you train it all the time it becomes second nature to the dog. I'd love to see a video of your dog jumping up to give you a high five!

Well it was nice to hear from you Mario! Keep up the good work with the pet therapy. My dog Chase passed the K9 tests to be a therapy dog however the program they had was for retired homes. It just wasn't something I wanted to commit my time to - me being a quiet person.

New Member

Hey Jean,
In that pic is Molly the Lab and Nate the Poodle-- Nate was about 4 months old there! Nate now towers over Molly, and has been placed with a lady who uses him for mobility-- he helps her get up and sit down, pulls her wheelchair, helps her dress, do laundry, picks things up that she drops and much more.

As far as how to teach the 'carry' for distance-- the same way you teach an extended 'stay'. Start with getting him to hold it for 2 seconds, then go for 5, and so on, trading the object for treats every time. Then step back and have him bring it a step or two to you-- but don't let him drop it on the floor! Be sure it goes in your hand EVERY time. Trade it for treats and soon you'll have a carrying, retrieving freak that follows you around trying to hand things to you.
I have a friend whose Service Dog is a Sheltie-- Austin actually searches the floor for things that she might want, and goes into other rooms trying to find SOMETHING that she might need.
My Doberman has a red and white purse (that HE picked out) that he loves to carry around and show off...

Well-Known Member

Hello Jean!
thanks for answering my intro about me and my baby Chantal! Yes it is really a great thing we can meet here from every place in the world! And this is our dog's power, the magic they can do with their simple but precious being next to us every moment of our life. I hope I can show you a video with my newfie doing the "high five". Perhaps I can send it taken by my digital camera. It is made by Quick Time: could it be ok for you? Hope so! Many greetings from us...Mario and Chantal!